The present invention relates to food preparation apparatus and, more particularly to food preparation apparatus requiring rapid heating of a food product.
The term "fast food" is recognized as an identifier of such foods as hamburgers, chicken and potato chips served in restaurants equipped with apparatus for keeping pre-cooked items warm until served. The public enthusiasm for appetizing foods delivered without substantial delay is evident in the growth of restaurants offering them.
A further development in food dispensing includes machine preparation and delivery of food to a purchaser. Coin-operated machines for preparing hot coffee, tea and hot chocolate from hot water, powdered flavoring and, optionally, dried lightener and sweeter are common. Coin-operated dispensers of snack foods have been in wide use for decades. In addition, coin-operated refrigerated machines for dispensing perishable foods such as, for example, milk and sandwiches are common. When dispensed from such refrigerated machines, sandwiches require heating using, for example, a micro-wave oven before consumption.
Some foods, although extremely popular in other contexts, have not found wide sale in the fast-food, or coin-operated environment. One type of such popular food includes the various types of pastas with, or without sauces. One of the few pasta dispensing systems commonly seen includes manual or coin-operated delivery of a cold, sealed single-serving can of, for example, a spaghetti. The can is then opened and the contents heated before consumption. Canned pasta lacks the appeal of freshly cooked pasta. In addition, the time required for opening the can and for heating the contents extends over several minutes.
Some manufacturers sell a pasta frozen in its sauce. The frozen mass is thawed and heated to serving temperature before consumption in a conventional oven, on a stovetop, or in a microwave oven. In some cases the manufacturer's instructions recite that the product should be heated to boiling temperature and allowed to cool for about three minutes before eating. When the three-minute cooling time is added to a thawing and heating time of about seven to nine minutes (these times are for microwave heating and thawing, conventional cooking equipment takes longer), it is seen that the 10- to 12-minute elapsed time stretches the definition of fast food. In addition, the resulting product lacks the texture and flavor of a corresponding pasta, freshly prepared and served hot.
In the case of pasta such as, for example, a spaghetti, a conventional sauce has a pungent aroma. If such a sauce is maintained heated in an open vessel, the pungent aroma tends to permeate the area. Such pungent aroma may be unwelcome in some environments. The flavor of the sauce is dissipated by continued open heating. In addition, health considerations and the freshness of the resulting product make it undesirable to heat the sauce in an open vessel.